TV weather angers Timaru council

Press, 5 December 1989, Page 3

TV weather angers Timaru council

By

CHRIS MAHONY

in Timaru

Television New Zealand’s decision not to show Timaru’s maximum temperature has angered Timaru district councillors.

The council’s community services committee last evening agreed that the council should demand an explanation for the removal of Timaru from the TVNZ weather map.

One committee member, Cr

Eric Johnston, also called for the council to demand that the weather bulletin be made more precise with less “show business.”

Other committee members said the council should concentrate on getting the daily temperature.

“TVNZ made an arbitrary decision to take us off the screen with no justification,” Cr Kerry Lundy said.

It was difficult to understand

why Oamaru was shown each evening, when it had only a third to half the population of 1 Timaru. Timaru’s temperature will now be shown only on TVNZ’s network news, if it is the highest or lowest in the country. Councillors found it ironic that the temperature is shown on TV3, as the new channel is not available to most Timaru residents.

Cr Johnston promised councillors that he would raise the issue of the standard of television weather forecasts at the next council meeting. “I know that forecasting of weather is a fairly imprecise science but it is one that should be taken seriously,” Cr Johnston said. He described the presentation as “light entertainment” and “damn stupid to the average person.”